I saw this band with Queensryche and Dream Theater here in Portland ... and the two better known bands had the name and fame ... and this band was pretty much ignored by the audience as they meandered in and out of the hall!

 

I have heard a bit more of their stuff since, and sometimes I look at this band as far better defined and interesting than the other 2 -- that endup sounding repetitive, instead of creative!

I wold disagree here.

 

Triumvirat, was Harvest/Hignosis' answer to the overlydone/overrated stuff that ELP was doing by that time.  On top of it, Manticore had released PFM and Banco, and they were getting some very good reviews, for their work, and all of a sudden, ELP looked lazy and tired ... where as these bands were standing out ... really well for not only their individuality, but their creativity.  ELP promptly dropped the bands on account that they did not sell ... because they did not support them at all! Money was wasted on electricity, instead, is the joke!

 

KAYAK should also be listed in the middle here. Also a Harvest/Hipgnosis release.

 

Triumvirat became a favorite in Santa Barbara by the station's less educated jocks that played stuff that was more familiar to their ears, rather than the really different stuff that was out there. In this sense, Triumvirat is a bit more conventional, but they were still very good.

 

It also tells you, that the keyboard sound was massive in those days ... and one that we "think" is the ultimate representation of "progressive" ... and it is NOT, and distorts the mucianship in many other bands that were far more experimental and creative.

 

I agree that Floyd and Yes are instantly accessible... But not Genesis. At least, not for me. I didn't get all the fuss about Genesis for decades. I would try to listen, but after the first or second listen, would give up. Finally, a few years a go, I forced myself to listen and re-listen and re-listen, only because it was praised so highly. Finally started to make sense to me.

 

I don't know if anyone else has had the same experience concerning Genesis...

 

One of my favorite albums of all time is Van Morrison's ASTRAL WEEKS. When i first heard it, it sounded like an indecipherable mess, chaotic and unlistenable. For a year, I'd put it on now and then, and then take it off in disgust. But for some reason, I kept going back to it. After that year, the full force of it hit me suddenly one day, and it's remained one of my favorite albums ever since.

 

I don't expect many here listens to Husker Du, but their album ZEN ARCADE was similar. Hated it the first time I heard it; took me awhile to get it, but now it's one of my all-time favorites.

 

Taking all that into account there is more to what determines a "Classic Album" than passing old greys whistle test (also the ironic name of the famous UK TV programme that featured music that decidely would not pass such a test).

There is no social impact without your reaction or mine, and no personal reaction, many times, without your friend telling you about something, or the board called Prog Archives, telling you, or helping you discuss something or other.

 

You can't have one without the other ... it's a symbiotic relationship, despite your not wanting to accept the basic fact on page one of Sociology and Psychology 101 in any college!

 

Seems to me that your sentence is off its rocker! A few smokes, or beers usually do that!

 

 

 

 

Just as example, I discovered Spock's Beard with The Kindness Of Strangers and it impressed me. Only later I heard The Light and Beware Of Darkness and their later albums. It's hard to tell which Spock's album I prefer the most now but Kindness will always remain a favourite.

It is likely that if the first album I ever heard from them was for example Beware, then it would be it to hold that special position.

and these vinyls

My point was, that "A Passion Play", is one classic albums, that never got to me, and I am a HUGE Tull

fan, I love TAAB, MITG, War Child, Songs from, Aqualung, Storm W., Heavy H. 

I have no idear why, but that one does not ring my bell. 

When I first listened to Yes, I was disturbed by the atmosphere and the "jumping" feeling in lots of the riffs etc, it felt like they had taken the bad parts from classical music and based their music on that and rock. After plenty of listens, I finally began to like Roundabout. After even more listens I liked Fragile. Then Close to the Edge after adapting/developing my taste even more. Then I got so obsessed with Close to the Edge that I wished they could have made it double the length... this was when I discovered my favorite album (guess which ^^). 

I am currently experiencing a very similar process with bands such as Camel, Gentle Giant and King Crimson. I would say that if you do NOT like something the first time you hear it, but keep coming back because you believe there might be something to it after all, then odds are you have stumbled upon what will reveal itself as a masterpiece, at least in your subjective opinion.

 

However this is not a golden rule. Some of these albums which I have listened to hundreds of times (and therefore were favourites at some time) have lost their magic with time.

And obviously there are albums which I have discovered too recently to have been able to listen to them hundreds of times (and therefore I am still on the way of getting to know them in full detail) which have already gained my love.

 

I remember that for a long time I did not like The Lamb's In The Cage melody, I found it corny, but I finally came to like it.

 

All the combinations are possible.

Lots of albums was in my top 20 playlist for a year or so, but never got back into my top 100.

 

NB: I still dont understand "A Passion Play",  may be I should give it a few more times.

The OP has since clarified that the "best" in the thread title kinda refers to classic albums, so that's kinda implicit from now onwards.

That won't necessarily make it a Classic Album - you could be sick of it this time next week/month/year/decade. Many albums have been 5-star albums after I've listened to them once or twice that have dropped to 4 or even 3 later.

 

If "melody" was the main definition of music, almost all the composers of the 20th century would never have made it, or be discussed today.

 

"Melody" is the simplest thing to work around in music ... but it is also the most over rated part of music, and the one part that often is not even the major part in it.

 

Popular music milks the easiest parts of the music, so you can have that guy playing the clarinet for the housewives in the afternoons and such ... and the guitar 30 second has become the barbie doll of all pieces of music that everyone gets attached to ... other than the naked girl of course!

 

In general, the best ones usually always have an impact in one way or another and none of the groups you mentioned had an immediate impact, btw ... in fact PF had serious issues with Syd at the lead, and some of the things they were doing live, were not the pop songs on the albums, which created a live issue for the band. YES, spent a long time trying to get it down and together, and it was their 3rd album that kicked in. Rush, I prefer not to discuss and PFM was already an established band by the time we heard about them in the rest of the world ...

 

Generally, I prefer to state that you can not put down superior muscianship and work ... a hit comes and goes ... but the works of the best will be remembered for a much longer time!

There you go then. There are no golden rules and no generalisations. One size definitely does not fit all. Every possible scenario for people liking or disliking this album that could exist probably does exist and that still disproves the OP. Hence "Exhibit 'A'

In that case I think you may be more *wrong* than I first imagined... I use the word *wrong* here in desperate need of another that more adequately conveys what I mean - I don't mean you are incorrect, because that is obviously not true for you, I mean that would be wrong for me and probably lots of other people reading this if that were our philosophy. Therefore it is not the generalisation implicit in the title or any explanation you've given. Many of us become quickly innured to songs that have immediate impact, and that is evident here in the misuse of that other word of contention - *overrated*. Bottom line is there is not general formula for what makes a classic album a classic album, it's not melody, catchiness, structure, subject matter, complexity, length or even who composed it (so no, I don't think the best composers are the ones who have the art of touching), yet it is possible that some classic albums some or all of those traits, and some that have none. No golden rules or everyone would be doing it.

That is one of the best examples why I don't agree with the theory of the OP.

It took me some time to appreciate Tales, and now it's one of my favorite Yes albums.

Same goes for some other albums, like Camel's classic albums: it took me some time to really appreciate them.

I thought they were boring when I first listened to them.

Still, sometimes I think the theory is right after all: sometimes I hear a song/album for the first time, and I think by myself that one day I might really like it.

It's just not a matter of always.